Lynda Bellingham
Acting • Born 1948-05-31 – Died 2014-10-19
Biography
Lynda Bellingham played many roles during her five-decade professional career, but became synonymous with one. "Being a mum making gravy was not quite how I had seen my career advancing," she said once. But between 1983 and 1999 that's what she did in 42 "episodes" of an award-winning TV ad. Since the early 1980s, her name was rarely mentioned in print without it being prefaced with "Oxo mum". During her career, though, she starred on TV as the vet's wife Helen Herriot in All Creatures Great and Small in the 80s and as one of two divorcees trying to forge a relationship in the 90s sitcom Second Thoughts, opposite James Bolam. On stage she was best known for playing the lead in a touring production of Calendar Girls between 2008 and 2012. She was also, for four years between 2007 and 2011, a regular member of the team on Loose Women, the daytime TV chat show. She had few regrets about how her career turned out, summarising its trajectory thus on her website: "Arrived in London at the Central School [for Speech and Drama] in 1966 and never looked back. I had a ball!" Bellingham, though, knew that gravy, like Lady Macbeth's damned spot, left an indelible mark. "In many ways I was very proud of what we did, but there is no doubt that my credibility as an actress was knocked," she reflected. "Certain people in the industry would never employ me as a serious actress after it. On the other hand, it gave me the financial security to go off and work in the theatre for very little money." Her performances as Mrs Oxo were reportedly responsible for a 10% increase in stock cube sales.
Filmography
61 credits
Sweeney!
Movie • 1977
Janice Wyatt
The Romanovs: A Crowned Family
Movie • 2000
Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna
Devil's Gate
Movie • 2004
Marlene
Stand up, Virgin Soldiers
Movie • 1977
Valerie
An Audience with Ronnie Corbett
Movie • 1997
Riding High
Movie • 1981
Miss Mott
Don't Go Breaking My Heart
Movie • 1999
Maxine
Bodywork
Movie • 2001
Poppy Fields
The Vision
Movie • 1987
Mary Morris
The Scarlet Tunic
Movie • 1998
Emily Marlowe
Confessions of a Driving Instructor
Movie • 1976
Mary Truscott
Doctor Who: Terror of the Vervoids
Movie • 1986
The Inquisitor
Doctor Who: Mindwarp
Movie • 1986
The Inquisitor
Doctor Who: The Ultimate Foe
Movie • 1986
The Inquisitor
Doctor Who: The Mysterious Planet
Movie • 1986
The Inquisitor
Hey, Mr. Producer! The Musical World of Cameron Mackintosh
Movie • 1998
The Waterloo Bridge Handicap
Movie • 1978
Likely Lady (Miss Beamish)
Too Close for Comfort
Movie • 2012
Mum
The Long Bank Holiday
Movie • 2004
Councillor Marjorie Balsam
Celebrity Naked Ambition
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
The Sweeney
TV • 1975
Nancy King
Midsomer Murders
TV • 1997
Jane Willows
This Morning
TV • 1988
Self
Second Thoughts
TV • 1991
Faith
Blake's 7
TV • 1978
Vena
The Gentle Touch
TV • 1980
Z-Cars
TV • 1962
The Professionals
TV • 1977
Betty Hope
Surprise, Surprise
TV • 1984
Self
Mister Eleven
TV • 2009
Shirley
Dalziel & Pascoe
TV • 1996
Waking the Dead
TV • 2001
Mary Mantel
Robin Hood
TV • 2006
All Creatures Great and Small
TV • 1978
Helen Herriot
Faith in the Future
TV • 1995
Angels
TV • 1975
New Tricks
TV • 2004
The Alan Titchmarsh Show
TV • 2007
Self
The Last Detective
TV • 2003
One Life
TV • 2003
Tell Tarby
TV • 1973
Nurse Norma Snockers
Bonkers
TV • 2007
Junior Masterchef
TV • 1994
Gibberish
TV • 1992
All Star Mr & Mrs
TV • 2008
The Pink Medicine Show
TV • 1978
Odd One In
TV • 2010
My Uncle Silas
TV • 2001
Mrs. Gadsby
Yus, My Dear
TV • 1976
Carol
An Audience with...
TV • 1978
Self
At Home with the Braithwaites
TV • 2000
Pauline Farnell
Casualty
TV • 1986
Steph Yates
Wogan
TV • 1982
Self
Loose Women
TV • 1999
Self
Filthy Rich & Catflap
TV • 1987
Ms Tomkins
Screen Two
TV • 1985
Mary Morris
The Misfit
TV • 1970
Wee Jeannie
Doctor Who
TV • 1963
The Inquisitor
Mackenzie
TV • 1980
Ruth Isaacs
Shoestring
TV • 1979
Nicola
Martin Chuzzlewit
TV • 1994
Mrs Lupin